Monday, 10 December 2018

The snowflake Judith created has it all - the cold, the transparency, the imperfection of the real (not plastic) crystal and the smoothness of freshly fallen snow in the background

Snowflakes or Ice Crystals was the subject of this week. Good for interesting watercolours, with possible use of making fluid, candles, fatty pastels (white) and salt. But also great subject for Christmas cards, and zentang-ling. Results as always creative, original, very different and hopefully inspiring!

Celina's imaginary snowflakes - wonderfully zen and good composition with a lot of depth!

The beautiful snowflakes by Hélène - the amazing background is achieved with different shades of blue and then adding salt

Michèle C. used a little bit of masking fluid for this fantastic crystal that shines like a star and wll be even more delicate when it is finished...

Here a combination of candle wax, salt and different shades of blue paint, spontaneously combined by Marie-Claire. Next time she will add a couple of stars in white ink to perfect the picture...

Diana combined the snowflake with zentange patterns and created a lovely looking square...

Diana's crystal is the bridge with the Zentangles that were produced and finished - a great way to spend the last 10 minutes for instance like Judith did last Thursday:

The start of another Zentangle by Judith, so early stages that it is not yet completely abstract!

Marie-Claire's production. Her zentangles - although very different, both in colour and pen - look like aquarium- or deep sea pictures, very zen and inspiring!

Michele C.'s funny zentangle cats now have some starrs and balls in the background to make it all come together...

Of course there are also the aquarelistas who paint their own subjects. Here's what they achieved this week, we start with the animals:

Carol is looking for 'bleak skies', something we don't have here in the South of France, where the sky is (almost) always blue. These Norfolk seals are so gorgeous - even when they don't have a sky yet! Watch this space for the next stage...

And how about Cathie's sheep?! Two strong and independent characters well-painted with a lot of humor - and the one-hair-brush 😊. Fantastic Cathie!

Maud wasn't happy with the cat she painted last week, and started over. She was right, this one (below) is so much better & cuter! Above a portrait of Hedwig, Harry Potters' cat. Special is the use of gesso on the wings, which gives an interesting structure...

After finishing her first robust Chess Game painting, Liz felt like doing another one. More about that next time. The large, stone pieces on the rocks are finished and the addition with a part of the black and white fields is excellent

Sandra has created these tulips in a freestyle way with a big brush. lightly inspired by Carol Carter (who will come back in this blog one day- an interesting artist!)

Vanessa has started the portrait of her granddaughter, the lovely and funny Esmé. Drawing is the difficult part and that's now done! Very well done even . Can't wait for the next step: Adding the colours!

And last but not least: the ongoing Christmas cards-production is going pretty well ...

(The first batch of Jutta's cards)

Michele - Vanessa - Violet and Diana created some good-looking cars

Like Jutta, Leonie started a whole series of cards with different ideas...